Somebody Else
by SistaSouljah
Summary: COMPLETE. NS Post-ep for Butterflied.
1. Chapter 1

Somebody Else

Disclaimer: If it's familiar to you, it doesn't belong to me.

Spoilers: Butterflied

A/N:  I just had to write this.  Mostly because the whole GSR thing irritates me to no end.  But that's a whole other can of worms.  Anyway, here's my N/S take.  Oh, and just a warning, this is (obviously) not GSR friendly.

~*~*~*~*~

Sara stood behind the one-way glass and stared at him, her face expressionless, as she listened.

_"…all of a sudden, we get a second chance.  Somebody young and beautiful shows up, somebody we could care about.  She offers us a new life, with her…"_

Grissom had just admitted he had feelings for her.  Not directly, but she knew he wasn't just talking about their suspect.  She knew he was talking about himself.  And her.

Six months ago, this revelation would have meant something to her.  It would have been what she was waiting to hear, for so long.  For so long she had worshipped him, hanging on his every word, doing anything and everything to please him.  But that was six months ago.  Six months ago, she would have cared about how he felt.  She didn't care anymore.

"…I couldn't do it, but you did.  You risked it all…" 

Maybe Grissom thought he still had time, that he could take that risk after all.  But what he didn't know was that he and their suspect were more alike than he would have hoped.

"…and she showed you a wonderful life, didn't she?  But then she took it away and gave it to somebody else…" 

There was already a somebody else for Sara, a somebody else who was unlike Grissom in every way.  A somebody else who was willing to risk their friendship to see if there was something more out there.  A somebody else who cared for her and respected her.  A somebody else who she had a wonderful life with.

The suspect was taken away, but Grissom remained seated in the interrogation room, alone, as he thought about what he had just said.  He looked up at the one-way glass, knowing she had been watching, hoping she had understood what he was trying to tell her.  Wondering if she was still there, waiting for him.

_How dare he?_ She thought furiously.  He had no right, not anymore.  She gave him his chance, waited patiently with high hopes that he would reciprocate her feelings.  But he pushed her away, and as far as she was concerned, that meant for good.  He was too late now.  He had his chance, and he didn't deserve a second.  She had moved on, and she wasn't looking back, especially not for him.

She angrily turned away, not wanting to look at him anymore.  She was feeling great after they had solved their case, but Grissom and his confession, or whatever he thought it was, had ruined her high.  Once again, Grissom had turned a great shift into a lousy one.

As she stormed off to the locker room, she knew there was only one person who could fix that.  Relieved to find the locker room empty, she leaned up against the closed door to ensure some privacy.  She reached for her cell phone and called the first number on her speed dial, knowing that just hearing his voice would make her feel better.

"Hey," he greeted warmly, knowing who it was from his caller ID. 

"Hi," she said back, unable to completely hide the sorrow and anger in her voice.

He immediately sensed something was bothering her.  "What's wrong?" he asked, his voice filled with concern.

"Nothing," she said simply, not wanting to get into it.

He didn't push any further but waited for a few seconds, knowing she would talk to him if she wanted to. 

"How's the convention?" she changed the subject.

"Great.  The weather sucks though."

"It's Minneapolis.  The weather always sucks there."  She heard him laugh, which brought a smile to her face.  She loved that sound.

They stayed on the line for several seconds in silence until Sara spoke.  "Nick?"

"What?" 

"I miss you."

This time it was Nick who smiled.  "Sar, I've only been gone a day." 

"When are you coming back?"

"Saturday, I told you," he reminded her.

"Can't you come back sooner?"

"You can't live without me for three days?" he teased.

"No," she giggled girlishly.

"Well that's just too bad missy, you're just gonna have to suck it up," he said.

"Fine," she replied with mock anger.  "But you owe me."

"Do I?"

"Big."

"Well, I think when I get back we can work something out," he replied flirtatiously.

"I'll be waiting," she teased back.

After a few seconds he spoke.  "I miss you too."

Sara smiled.

"Well I gotta go.  The seminar on 'Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization Probing for DNA Analysis' is gonna start soon," he told her.

"And we can't miss that," she said sarcastically.

"Of course not."

He actually sounded serious, making Sara smile yet again.  Sometimes he could be such a science geek.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow," he said.

"Okay.  Bye."

"Bye."

Sara smiled as she flipped her phone shut.  Finally, her life was good.  Her life with Nick.  She was happy, genuinely happy, a feeling she had felt so rarely over the past few years.  But she knew that feeling was here to stay.  And she owed it all to Nick.

The End


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I decided to extend this ficlet into a full story because the GSR thing has been irritating me a lot during season 4 and I needed a way to vent.  And even though I really, really (really, really) don't like doing WIPs (you could say I'm a bit of a perfectionist ;-) ), I decided to go ahead and start posting now, due to the pathetically small amount of Nick/Sara fics out there now.  So here it is!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 2

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nick stood at the curb in the passenger loading/unloading zone at McCarran.  He was waiting for no longer than five minutes when he saw the familiar dark blue Denali pull out of the slow stream of cars and up to the curb where he was standing.  The driver was also familiar, but not who he was expecting to see.

"If you're expecting a welcome back kiss, you've got another thing coming," Warrick joked as Nick opened the rear passenger side door and threw his suitcase on the seat.

"It's almost noon.  Don't tell me she's been working since last night," Nick said when he opened the front door and climbed in next to Warrick.  Nick didn't even know why he bothered to ask.  He already knew the answer.

"She wanted to finish up."

Nick sighed.  "Why does she always do this?"

"It's Sara," Warrick replied, as if that explained everything, which it did.

"So did things fall apart while I was gone?" Nick tried to lighten the mood.

"Like we can't survive without you for three days?  Please.  I didn't even realize you were gone until Cath asked Sara where you were."

"Glad to know I'm appreciated around there," Nick smirked.  "Sara called me yesterday, sounded like you guys had a tough case," he said.

"Yeah.  Kinda freaky, too.  I'm sure Sara will tell you all about it."  Warrick decided not to get into the details, knowing Sara would probably want to talk to Nick about it herself, under the circumstances.  "How was the convention?" he asked.

"The convention itself was great, just not the fifty feet of snow we had," Nick exaggerated.

"Why do they always have those things in cities with the worst winter weather?  How come they're never in Hawaii or something?" Warrick wondered.

"Maybe to deter people like you and make sure they only attract people who are serious about their jobs and want to actually learn about forensic science," Nick retorted.

"Right." Warrick tried not to laugh at the implication that Nick considered himself a die-hard forensics geek.

~*~

As soon as Nick got home, he headed straight for the kitchen.  He was starving; he skipped breakfast and didn't dare eat the food on the plane.  Just as he was finishing making his double-decker turkey sandwich he heard the front door unlock, open and then softly close.  Two seconds later Sara walked into the kitchen.

"Hi," he smiled at her, just happy to see her face, even if it was a tired and over-worked one.

Sara didn't say anything; she merely walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

Nick felt her let out a sigh as he held her for what seemed like at least a minute.  He finally pulled her away just enough to give her a quick kiss.  "Miss me?" he smiled, hoping to cheer her up.

"Every minute," she said as she kissed him again and rested her head on his shoulder, still holding on to him.

"You should get some sleep."

"I will," she replied, but didn't budge.

Nick waited, wondering if she was going to tell him about the case.  She was obviously upset, and Warrick's vague remarks earlier had only made him more curious.

"So you gonna tell me about the case from yesterday?  Warrick said it was 'freaky.'  And you know him, if he thinks something's 'freaky' it must be really out there," he smiled, continuing to try to lift her spirits.

Sara managed a small smile.  She looked up at him and sighed again, taking his hand to lead him to the living room.

"We can talk about this later.  You should get some rest," Nick said, getting more worried as they sat down on the couch.

"I might as well tell you now and get it over with," she replied, not letting go of his hand.  She took a deep breath and proceeded to tell Nick everything, about the doppelganger victim, Grissom's attempts to keep her distanced from the case, and finally, Grissom's 'speech.'

When she was finished, Nick stared back at her in silence for a minute, trying to process everything she had just told him.  "What did you tell him?  After he said all that?" he finally managed.

"Nothing.  I just left.  That's when I called you."

Nick remained silent, waiting for her to say something else, wanting her to answer his question without having to actually ask it.  He knew it was wrong of him to even think it, but he couldn't help it.

"It didn't mean anything to me," she said, knowing exactly what was going through his mind.  She couldn't blame him though; while the whole Grissom ordeal was the reason she and Nick were together now, it was also the thing that they had battled over the most before actually taking their relationship to the next level.

"I'm sorry.  I couldn't help it."

"But you believe me, right?" she looked into his eyes.  She was telling the truth; she would never lie to him.

"Of course," he replied truthfully.  He knew she wouldn't lie to him, especially regarding something like that.

"I don't even know for sure if he knew I was watching.  I haven't seen him since then," she continued.

"Well despite how easy it is to convince you to stay out of the lab," Nick joked, "you know you're gonna have to face him eventually."

Sara smiled.  "I know.  I'll figure something out."

"You always do."  He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead.  "So how are you doing?  I mean apart from the Grissom thing," he asked.

"Okay, I guess.  It's just weird, in this job, you deal with death every day, but you never really think about your own until-"

"Sara…" he interrupted her, not wanting her to finish.

Sara sighed.  "She just looked so much like me…" she trailed off, her voice wavering.

"Hey, it's all over now, okay?" He pulled her closer as he rubbed her arm to sooth her.  Nick was actually glad that he was in Minneapolis and didn't have to work the case.  He was sure he wouldn't have been able to handle it, even if it wasn't really Sara on that steel autopsy table.  He couldn't even bring himself to think about it.

"Yeah, you're right," she sighed, fiddling with the buttons on Nick's shirt.  "So how was your flight?" she asked, changing the subject to let Nick know that she wasn't going to let the case bother her anymore.

"Fine."

"Sorry I couldn't pick you up," Sara apologized.

"So we're even now?"

"Huh?"

"When you called me you said I owed you 'big,' but now you owe me for not picking me up, so now we're even," Nick explained.

"We are _so_ not even," Sara scoffed.  "You were gone for three whole days.  Three and half days actually.  My not picking you up doesn't even begin to make up for that."

"It doesn't, huh?"

"Nope."

"Then I guess we'll have to take care of that, won't we?" he teased with a grin as he took her hand and got up from the couch.

"You better believe it," she smiled as she followed him into the bedroom.

~*~

Catherine pushed open the locker room door to see Nick and Sara leaning against the bay of lockers having what appeared to be an intimate conversation.  As soon as they heard the door open they both quickly straightened up and took a step back from each other.

"Relax, it's just me," Catherine said as she came in.

"Oh, hey Cath," Nick greeted, relieved.

"You know, you guys should just go public, it's a lot easier that way," Catherine suggested as she opened her locker.

"Yeah, we've talked about it."  Nick looked at Sara.  They'd been talking about it a lot for the past several weeks.  When they first started dating, they wanted to keep their relationship under wraps, just in case things didn't work out, but they were now well beyond the stage where they had anything to worry about.

"And it's not like you have that many people to tell anyway," Catherine added.

"Yeah well that wasn't by choice," Sara gave Catherine a playful smirk.

"Hey, it's not my fault I have such keen instincts and sharp observation skills," Catherine smirked back.  Only a few weeks after Nick and Sara had started dating, Catherine had figured it out on her own, merely by noticing the subtle changes in their behavior towards each other.  "But Warrick was your own fault," she reminded them.

"It wasn't _my_ fault," Sara narrowed her eyes at Nick.

"Can I help it if you're so irresistible?" Nick teased as he pulled her into a bear hug and planted a juicy kiss on her cheek.  He wasn't going to deny the fact that it was his inability to resist Sara that caused Warrick to catch them in a comprising situation in the locker room a couple months ago.

Catherine rolled her eyes and smiled at the two.  "Well we better get going kiddies.  We don't want to miss roll call," she said as she headed to the break room for assignments.

"You ready?" Nick looked at Sara, wondering how she felt about seeing Grissom for the first time since his little speech the other day.

"Ready," she replied confidently, determined not to let Grissom bother her.  She was with Nick now, and there was nothing Grissom could say or do to change that.

Nick and Sara entered the break room to find everyone else already there.

"Nick, Sara, you're working with me, 419 at Vista Junior High," Grissom informed them.

"Junior high?" Nick hated when kids were involved.

"No kids.  School was already out.  The night custodian," Grissom said when he realized what Nick was thinking.

"Well, we're out.  We got a long drive," Warrick said as he and Catherine headed out.

"Later," Nick replied as the two left.

"Nick, why don't you grab your kit and wait for us in the parking lot.  I need to talk to Sara before we go," Grissom said.

"Uh, okay." Nick looked at Sara, as if to ask her if she wanted him to stay so they could confront Grissom together.  But she made no indication of it, so he left.

"Sit down." Grissom pulled out a chair for Sara and went to take a seat across the table from her.  He figured it would be best to keep a distance between them, just to be safe.

Sara sat down, starting to get a little nervous, but mostly just angry.  She knew this was about his speech in the interrogation room the other day.  What could he possibly have to say to her?

"Before we head out I think there's something we have to settle.  Well something that I have to settle anyway," Grissom paused before continuing.  "First I wanted to apologize for the way I acted on the last case, distancing you from it.  I guess I thought I was trying to protect you.  From what, I don't know.  But it was my fault.  I let the case get personal."

"It's okay.  We all do it sometimes.  We're human," Sara looked at him with a straight face.

"I thought about the case a lot over the weekend.  Especially about what I said to the suspect when we brought him in."

Sara felt a knot forming in the pit of her stomach, waiting for Grissom to drop the bomb.

"You were watching, weren't you?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"I'm assuming you realized that what I said didn't apply to just our suspect."

"Yeah."

Grissom waited a second before continuing.  "I know it's been awhile, but this case made me realize something that I should have told you a long time ago."  He paused as he tried to read her expression, but was met with only a blank stare, so he went on.  "The reason I said no, that day you--"

"It doesn't matter anymore," Sara cut him off.  She didn't want to hear him finish.  She didn't even care what his reason was anyway.

"Sorry?"  Grissom looked at her, confused.

"It doesn't matter.  I've moved on.  I'm over it.  You."  She couldn't believe he actually thought she'd still be pining over him.  Did he honestly think she'd wait around forever?  For him?  She never figured Grissom as the egotistical type.  But then again, he was never good with people, maybe he never really thought about it.

"Oh," was all Grissom could say.  He realized he had never even entertained the thought that Sara would move on and forget about him.  He figured people wanted explanations when they were turned down.  At least that's what he thought.  He wasn't really sure what other people wanted.  Chalk it up to inexperience.  He wasn't used to dealing with these kinds of situations, these kinds of feelings.

"Look, I just want to put this whole thing behind me, if that's okay with you," Sara failed to completely mask the anger she was feeling.

"Sure.  Of course.  The last thing I want is for this to get in the way of our work."

"Don't worry, it won't." Her tone was bitter.

"Okay," Grissom said, a little taken aback by Sara's abruptness.  But he knew that Sara was right.  They needed to just forget about the whole thing.  They were professionals; they had to focus on their work.

"Nick is waiting." She got up from her seat and headed out to the parking lot.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The drive to the junior high was completely silent.  Nick drove, with Sara in the passenger seat and Grissom in the back.  Nick glanced at Sara occasionally and could tell she was angry.  What did Grissom say to her?  He realized it must have had something to do with 'the speech.'  Did he tell her he had feelings for her?

And then it hit him.  What if he did, and Sara told Grissom about their relationship?  Was Grissom upset with him for 'stealing' her?  Would Nick be banished to working B and E's and trick rolls?  Or worse, would he get fired?  Nah, Grissom would never do that.  He's too professional.  Then again, when two men are fighting over one woman, things are different.  There are no rules.  Nick knew that if he'd lost Sara, he'd do just about anything to get her back.  Was Grissom the same way?

They pulled into the parking lot of the junior high, and as soon as Nick cut the engine, Grissom exited the vehicle and made his way into the building, leaving Nick and Sara to carry in the kits and equipment.  

Nick eyed Sara cautiously as they unloaded everything.  Her anger appeared to have subsided but he suspected something was still bothering her.  He slammed the trunk shut as Sara headed for the entrance.

"Hey," he called out to her.

She turned around.  "I'm fine," she answered, not waiting for his question.

Nick just looked at her, not sure if he believed her.

"I'm fine," she repeated, her tone indicating that she truly was.

"Okay," Nick replied, satisfied.  He wouldn't have to worry about Sara then.  Grissom, on the other hand, was another story.

The two entered the school and found Grissom in the hallway talking to Detective Vega while David examined the body.

"Sara, it looks like the back entrance was our suspect's escape route.  I want you to dust the door for prints and then check the perimeter outside," Grissom instructed.

Without a word, Sara turned on her heels and headed for the back entrance at the other end of the hall.

Nick immediately wondered if sending Sara outside was Grissom's way of getting some one-on-one time with Nick, to grill Nick about his relationship with her.  He looked at Grissom and waited for his instructions, but instead Grissom turned to David.

"TOD?" Grissom asked.

"Based on liver temp, not more than three hours ago," David replied.

"Hmm."  Grissom crouched down next to the body to get a closer look.

When it was clear that Grissom wasn't going to tell him anything, Nick took it upon himself to start processing the classroom they were standing just outside of, clearly their primary crime scene.  He pulled out his camera and started photographing the trail of blood on the floor, and his worries about Grissom's interrogation were quickly forgotten as he became engrossed in his work.

When Grissom had finished examining the body he joined Nick in the classroom.  He silently walked around, inspecting the room, taking everything in.  After several minutes he finally spoke.

"Hey Nick."

"Uh, yeah?"  Nick felt his stomach flutter.  Oh no, here it comes.

"Get a shot of this, would you?"  Grissom pointed to something on the windowsill.

Nick let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.  "Oh.  Yeah.  Uh, sure."  Nick walked over with the camera and snapped a photo of the splintered wood that was most likely caused by an errant bullet.

The two men stood in silence for a second, Grissom wondering why the bullet hole was there and Nick wondering when Grissom was going to let Nick have it.

"I didn't find the bullet anywhere," Grissom finally said.

"Oh, uh, right.  Well, um, maybe that was already there, from before," Nick stammered.

Grissom gave him a concerned look.  "You okay?  Something bothering you?  You seem a little out of it tonight."

"Huh?  No, I'm fine."  So Sara didn't tell Grissom about them?  What did they talk about?  Nick had to talk to Sara and find out, soon.  This was driving him crazy.

"Okay," Grissom replied.

"Okay," Nick said as he quickly went back to the front of the room to finish his collecting.

They finished up in silence and when Sara returned from outside they packed everything up and headed to the lab.

It appeared to be an open and shut case; the evidence was solid and they just needed DNA analysis to confirm.  And with Greg backed up, all they could do was wait.

Sara sat alone in the break room, her head resting against the back of the couch, mug of tea in hand as she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to will her headache away.  She opened her eyes and sat up when she heard familiar footsteps.

"Hey," Nick greeted as he walked in and sat down next to her.

"Has Greg processed our samples yet?" she asked as she took a sip of her tea.

"Nope."

Sara winced as her head throbbed.

Nick gave her a concerned look.  "Headache?"

"Yeah."

"Did you take anything?"

"Yes, Dr. Stokes, thank you," she teased with a playful smirk.

They sat for a minute in silence, Nick waiting for Sara to tell him about her conversation with Grissom.

"What did Grissom say?"  He finally asked when she didn't say anything.

Sara sighed, the mere thought of Grissom aggravating her headache.  She then saw him walking down the hall with Warrick and instantly turned her head away in disgust.

"So the vic was already dead when he was stabbed, making the knife irrelevant," Warrick filled Grissom in on his case as they walked down the hall.

"What did the tox report say?"  Grissom asked, partially distracted by what he saw in the break room as he glanced in.  Nick and Sara were sitting on the couch together, rather close to one another, he noticed, having some kind of conversation.  He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something different about them.

"He tried to give me some lame ass excuse for why he rejected me when I asked him to dinner." Sara had to force herself to keep her voice low.

Nick breathed a sigh of relief.  "So he didn't tell you he had feelings for you?"

"What?  Eww, God no.  I don't think he's capable of human emotion," she barbed.

Nick couldn't stop a small smile from forming.  "So what was his excuse?"

"I don't know.  I cut him off.  It's not like I care anymore," she continued with her caustic tone.

"Did you tell him about us?"

"No."

He looked at her.  "Do you think we should?"

Before Sara could answer, her cell phone chirped.  "It's Greg," she said as she read the page.  She got up and headed for the DNA lab, Nick following behind her.

~*~

Sara lay in Nick's arms and let out a content sigh.  Their case that appeared to be simple had taken a twist that forced them to work several hours into the late morning.  She was exhausted and knew she should have gone straight to sleep, but she wasn't complaining about what they had done instead.

"Don't you think we should tell Grissom?" Nick spoke after several minutes of comfortable silence.

"The first thing you think of after we just did _that_, is Grissom?" Sara scoffed in disbelief.

"Sorry," Nick apologized with a sheepish grin.

"The rest of this morning is officially ruined for you now, buddy," Sara chided.

"Well maybe I can do something to change your mind," Nick teased as his lips met her shoulder and traveled up her neck.

"I doubt it," she replied, trying her hardest to stay mad at him as she swallowed her smile.

Nick rested his chin in the crook of Sara's neck.  "So should we?" he asked again.

Sara thought for a minute.  "No."

"No?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"No," Sara repeated.

"Well which is it? Yes or no?"  Now Nick was really confused.

"No," Sara managed a small smile.  "I don't want to tell him."

"Why not?"

"Screw him, that's why.  It's none of his business.  We're not breeching any policies on fraternization.  If he wants to know, he'll have to figure it out on his own."

Nick was a little surprised at Sara's attitude.  He knew Grissom bothered her, but he thought she was past most of it.  "You sure?"

Sara turned around to face him.  "Of course."

"Alright."  He gave her a kiss.  "Now, let's see what we can do about changing that stubborn mind of yours," he teased as his hands began to roam and he kissed her again.

~*~

Grissom headed down the hall toward the break room to hand out assignments, walking briskly as he was, as usual, late.  When he got there he was surprised to see only one of his CSIs there.

"Where is everyone?" he asked Catherine, who was seated at the table idly flipping through a forensics journal.

"Warrick's off.  I don't know about Nick and Sara.  Haven't seen 'em yet," she replied, not looking up.

Grissom furrowed his brow.  It was unusual for Sara to be late.  In fact, he could never remember a time when she was.

"Sorry," Sara said immediately as she walked in, Nick trailing right behind her.

"Sorry," Nick echoed.

"I, uh, overslept," Sara explained to Grissom.

"I forgot to set my alarm clock," Nick gave his excuse.

Catherine stared down at the journal as she tried to suppress a grin, deducing the real reason why the two were probably late.

Grissom noticed Catherine's expression but didn't push the issue further.  "Right.  Okay.  Cath, you're with me on the floater out at Lake Mead.  Nick, Sara, burglary gone bad in Aliante."

"Alrighty." Nick grabbed the assignment slip and headed back out to the Denali he had just parked not two minutes ago.

Grissom glanced at Sara, and their eyes met for a split second before she turned and followed Nick out.

"You ready?" Catherine got up from the table.

"Uh, yeah," Grissom replied distractedly, his mind elsewhere as he watched Sara disappear down the hall.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

------------------

Sara processed in silence, shutting out Grissom and her surroundings as she meticulously ran the ALS over the bed sheets. She hated working cases alone with him ever since, as she now called it, "the speech." She was still bitter, not because he had rejected her, but because he had the nerve to bring it all up again, six months later. She hated that it was still bothering her, but she couldn't seem to let it go.

Grissom stole an occasional glance at Sara as they processed the scene. Sara was never the talkative type when it came to collecting evidence, but she usually made a few comments when she found something interesting. That night, however, she'd barely spoken a word. The two had been processing a honeymoon suite at a hotel on the Strip for over three hours in complete silence, save for the occasional chatter of the uniforms guarding the front door.

The past few days had been awkward between him and Sara, or at least he thought so. It was hard to tell; it seemed like she was trying to avoid him. He knew he had upset her, digging up old feelings, but he didn't understand why it seemed to still be bothering her, since she was the one who was so adamant about leaving the past in the past.

Whether she was avoiding him or not, once they got back to the lab Grissom didn't see Sara for the next few hours as they continued working, so he eventually had to go and see Greg himself to get their DNA results.

"Are you sure?" Grissom looked at the printout in his hand in disbelief.

"Of course I'm sure," Greg confidently replied. "I even ran it through twice."

"Okay," Grissom sighed. He left the DNA lab to find Sara and update her on the results. He found her in the break room, standing at the coffee machine talking to Nick. He caught the tail end of Sara's sentence.

"...when I woke up yesterday."

"I know, but you said-" Nick stopped when he noticed Grissom had walked in.

The three stood in silence for a few seconds as they stared at each other.

"Greg didn't have any luck with the blood you swabbed. No hits off CODIS," Grissom informed Sara.

"Damn." Sara let out a frustrated sigh.

"How's the case coming?" Grissom turned to Nick.

"Fine. Catherine's with Ronnie, checking out the ransom note, and Warrick's with Brass."

"And you are...?" Grissom was slightly annoyed, wondering why Nick was standing in the break room talking to Sara when everyone else was working. Especially since they weren't even on the same case, and it didn't appear that they were talking about anything work related.

"I'm, uh, waiting for Trace. Hodges is a little backed up," Nick replied. "He said you dumped a boat load of samples on him and he had to get through those first."

"Oh right, our soil samples," Sara remembered. "I'll go see if he's made any progress." Sara promptly left, wanting to get out of the awkward situation as quickly as possible, but feeling bad for leaving Nick there alone.

"Is everything okay?" Grissom looked at Nick.

"Uh, yeah. We lifted a few prints and got a couple names from AFIS, and Ronnie said he should be able to give us something from the ransom note."

"No, I didn't mean with your case. I meant with you."

"Me? No, um, I'm fine," Nick stammered.

Grissom wasn't buying it. "Nick, you've been distracted at scenes, you've been coming in late; if you're having any personal problems and it's affecting your work, you need to-"

"I don't have any problems. I'm fine," Nick insisted, trying not to raise his voice. "I'm gonna go see if Cath and Ronnie have anything." He left Grissom standing there.

--------

"By the way, thanks for walking out and leaving me alone with Grissom," Nick quipped sarcastically, his mouth full of French toast. He and Sara were having breakfast at their favorite after-shift diner.

"Sorry," Sara apologized with a small smile that quickly faded. "He just pisses me off."

"Still?"

"I don't know what it is, I just can't get past it. Which pisses me off even more that I'm so hung up on it." She let out an exasperated sigh.

"You need to just let it go. You can't hold a grudge forever," Nick reasoned.

"Do you not know me at all?" she scoffed.

"Oh, right. I take that back," Nick said, forgetting he was talking to the grudge-holding master. Sara could stew for days if you so much as left the toilet seat up. He'd learned that one the hard way. Although, it was partially her fault for not turning the light on before sitting down.

"How bad was it?" She asked.

"He thought I was having 'personal problems' that were affecting my work."

"He thought _you_ were having problems?"

"Hey, it's not always about you," Nick teased. "Yeah, he said because I, well actually it was we, were late the other day, and because I've been 'distracted' at crime scenes."

"Distracted?" She raised an eyebrow. "I told you to stop staring at my ass while we're processing a scene," she teased.

"You weren't even there," Nick smirked. "It was only Grissom."

She gave him a look. "Uh, is there something I should know about? Maybe Grissom was preaching to the wrong choir."

"Ha ha," he deadpanned.

"So what'd you say?"

"Nothing. I just said I was fine, and then I did a helluva angry-Sara-storming-out-of-the-room impression. You would have been proud," he grinned.

"I'm sure."

--------

"What do you think this is?" Warrick asked as he pointed to the shoulder of the dead body on the floor in front of him.

"I think it used to be a tattoo," Sara replied, trying to breathe through her mouth to avoid the smell of decomposing flesh. "Get a shot of it anyway. Leah might be able to help us out."

"Brass said the daughter called it in. She comes a few times a week to check in on the father. She last saw him on Tuesday," Grissom informed the two as he approached.

"The body shouldn't look this bad," Warrick deduced.

"Window, maybe?" Sara suggested. "The curtains aren't drawn. But then again, the way this window faces, it never really gets direct sunlight," she thought out loud.

"Maybe the thermostat was set really high," Warrick proposed.

"Maybe. What was it set at?" Sara turned to Grissom for an answer, but he had already wandered off.

"Or maybe he really was here for just a couple days," Warrick added.

Sara sighed. "Maybe." All she knew for sure was that she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. The less time she spent around the body, the less time the reduced human fat would have a chance to cling to her hair follicles and burrow into her pores, something she wasn't particularly fond of.

While Grissom didn't seem to mind the smell, Warrick and Sara certainly did, so the two quickly finished processing and headed back to the lab. Warrick pulled into an empty parking space and Sara hopped out of the passenger seat. The tinted window of the Denali next to her rolled down.

"Hey," Nick greeted with a smile. His nose immediately wrinkled when he caught a whiff of Sara. "You smell like death," he quipped, his comment earning him a playful albeit not entirely painless punch in the arm.

"I'm gonna check all this in," Warrick said to Sara as he unloaded the trunk and headed inside.

"Yeah, thanks," Sara replied. "So where are you going?" she asked Nick as she leaned against the open window frame.

"Club Vertigo. Just opened up a couple weeks ago, at the Bellagio."

"Oh yeah?" Sara raised an eyebrow.

"I'm taking Catherine too, if she hurries up. She's still in the locker room, changing into her dancing shoes," Nick replied with a wink.

"Really..."

"Yeah. But after that, maybe I'll pick up some lemons and help you get cleaned up," he grinned.

"Okay, sorry. Let's go," Catherine opened the passenger door and jumped in. "Sara, you're stinking up the cab. I can smell you from here, do you mind?" she teased.

Sara gave her a playful smirk and turned to Nick. I'll see you later. And I'm taking you up on that lemon offer." She leaned in to kiss him before heading inside.

As Grissom pulled into the parking lot, he noticed Sara standing beside a Denali, talking to the driver. As she leaned into the open window, he immediately realized she was kissing someone, but he couldn't tell who was on the receiving end. This in itself was surprising, he had no idea why Sara would be kissing anyone in the first place, but what happened next was what really threw him. As Sara headed into the lab, the Denali pulled out of its spot and drove toward Grissom. To say he was shocked would have been an understatement when he saw that the driver who waved to him was Nick.

Suddenly everything began to sink in, the strange behavior he had been witnessing over the past few weeks becoming clear. Why he hadn't put it together sooner he didn't know. Maybe because it was the last thing he ever expected.

--------

Sara poked her head into Grissom's office. "Bobby D. couldn't get anything from the casings we found," she informed him.

"How's Warrick doing on those shoeprints?" Grissom asked.

"Uh, I don't know, I'll go find out."

"Sara, hold on," Grissom said as she was about to walk off. He motioned for her to come in and sit in the chair in front of his desk. "Shut the door," he instructed.

Sara closed the door but remained standing.

"Is there something going on between you and Nick?" Grissom got right to the point.

"Going on?"

"Are you and Nick dating?" he rephrased the question.

It took her a second to realize what he was asking her. She looked at him with a straight face. "Yeah," she replied in an even tone as she crossed her arms in front of her.

"How long has this been going on?"

"Awhile."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"We didn't think it was any of your business."

"Well, you two work together, and I'm your supervisor, so I think it is my business," Grissom responded calmly.

Sara could feel her pulse start to rise, her anger beginning to mount. She narrowed her gaze. "We're not violating any departmental policies. Nick and I are of equal rank. Nobody is anybody's supervisor," she glared at him. 

Grissom immediately caught on to what he thought she was implying. "Sara, it was never about the rules," he said, his demeanor still cool and collected.

"And it's not about you anymore," she snapped, her demeanor clearly anything but cool and collected. "I'm with Nick now. And if you have a problem with that, that's just too damn bad."

Grissom stared at her, speechless, his mouth slightly agape.

Before he could respond, Sara turned and walked out, slamming the door behind her.

--------

After trying unsuccessfully to gather information from various bartenders and bouncers at the club, Nick trudged into the break room, desperately in need of coffee. "There better be enough left for me," he warned Warrick, who was pouring his own cup.

"Relax," Warrick replied, grabbing another mug and commencing to fill it. "So what did you do this time?" he asked as he handed the filled mug to Nick.

"Huh?"

"To piss Sara off."

"Nothing. At least I don't think so...why?"

"All I can say is, look out. She's on the warpath."

Nick furrowed his brow. "Tough case?" Decomps usually didn't bother Sara too much, aside from the nausea, which he wasn't allowed to tell anyone about if he valued certain important parts of his anatomy.

"No, not really. That's why I thought you did something," Warrick replied.

"Oh, so it has to be my fault?"

"Just be on the look out," Warrick warned.

Whether it was fortunate or not, Nick didn't see Sara the rest of the night, and she left the lab before he did. When he got home he was surprised to find her there, already in bed, which immediately started to worry him. She rarely went straight to sleep after shift. His worries were somewhat relieved when her head came up and she propped herself up on her elbow, indicating she wasn't sleeping.

"Hey," he said as he crawled on top of the covers and leaned down to kiss her. When they pulled apart, Nick knew something was wrong, the way Sara had lingered. "What did he do this time?" He looked at her with concern.

Sara sighed as she dropped her head onto her pillow. "He knows."

"You told him?"

"No. I guess he figured it out on his own."

"And?" Nick waited for her to continue.

"I don't know, he said something about he had the right to know because he's our supervisor. I said something, I think I kind of told him off, and then I walked out."

"Sara..." he hoped she hadn't gone over the line this time. He didn't want to be written up, or worse, fired, for something like this.

Sara let out a frustrated groan. "Why does everything have to be so complicated?"

"Hey, hey," he tried to calm her down. He lay down beside her and pulled her close. "Look at what we went through to get to where we are now. We got through all that, we can get through this, no problem," he assured her as he rubbed her back.

Sara sighed. "I guess so." Nick was probably right. Thinking back, this was a drop in the bucket compared to everything they had gone through over the past six months.

--------------------------------

SIX MONTHS PREVIOUSLY

--------------------------------

Sara drove aimlessly through the streets of Vegas, replaying the conversation over and over again in her head, trying to figure out where she went wrong.

_"Would you like to have dinner with me?"_

_"No."_

_"Why not? Let's have dinner, let's see what happens."_

_"Sara...I don't know what to do about this."_

_"I do. You know by the time you figure it out, it really could be too late."_

Was it already too late? Was there ever a time when it wouldn't have been? Did she ever have a chance? Was she a fool for thinking she did? For three years she had waited patiently, hoping for something. She finally decided to make a move herself, whether it was because she had finally worked up enough courage or because she was too tired of waiting she didn't know. Whatever the reason, it didn't matter now. The hope she had been building for three years was crushed by a single, two-letter word. No.

After several hours of driving she finally stopped, not surprised at all when she realized her mindless wandering had led her to this particular destination. She didn't hesitate to get out of the truck and knock on the front door.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

------------------------------

Sara knocked on the door and a few seconds later it cracked open.

"Sara."  He looked half surprised, half concerned.

"Hey."

He swung the door open to let her come in, neither bothering to ask whether she wanted to come in nor waiting for her to ask him if she could.  He walked back to the living room couch where he had been watching television, letting her close and lock the door behind her.  She took a seat next to him, and they watched TV in silence for several minutes.

He quickly became reabsorbed in the show he was watching; he knew that if Sara was going to tell him what was wrong, she'd do so when she was good and ready.  He knew it was probably something about the lab explosion that was bothering her; it was bothering everyone.

"Why'd you have to rat me out to Grissom?" she finally spoke, a trace of bitter anger in her voice.

"Huh?"  He was a little taken aback.  He wasn't expecting to be the reason she was upset.

"He said Brass wasn't the only one who told him about me pulling my gun on our suspect."

"Yeah, I might have mentioned something to him."

"You weren't even there.  It had nothing to do with you," she glared at him.

"So?  I can't be concerned?" His eyes remained fixed on the TV screen in an attempt to quell his mounting anger.

"I don't need to be babysat."  Her tone was biting.

"I hardly think charging into an apartment of a dangerous potential killer qualifies as being mature and experienced," he shot back.

"I can take care of myself.  What is your problem?" she raised her voice.

"What is _your_ problem?" he countered, finally turning to look at her.

She let out an exasperated sigh and quickly got up, heading for the front door.

"Hey!" he called out as he followed her, not satisfied with how they had ended the conversation.

Sara unlocked the door and managed to get it open a few inches before he reached past her and slammed it shut.

"We're not finished," he said sternly.

"Yes we are," she glared.  She attempted to open the door, but he was firmly holding it closed.  "Nick," she warned.

"I know this isn't just about me talking to Grissom," he looked at her.

She stared back at him in silence, her gaze still narrowed.

Nick sighed.  "Look, you don't have to tell me what's wrong, but you're not leaving until you at least apologize."

"Me, apologize?" she looked at him in disbelief.  "I think you've got it backwards."

Nick rolled his eyes.  "So what if I talked to Grissom?  Brass told him anyway."

"That's not the point, Nick," she replied angrily as she stormed back into the living room.

"Well then what is it?  Please, enlighten me!" he retorted as he followed her.

Sara slumped onto the couch and angrily crossed her arms in front of her.  She turned away from Nick, for two reasons.  The first was that she didn't have a point since Nick was right in assuming this wasn't about him talking to Grissom.  It was about Grissom's rejection, but there was no way she was going to tell Nick that.  The second was that she didn't want him to see the tears that were threatening to spill.

"Well?" Nick demanded, waiting for an answer as he stood angrily with his own arms crossed.

Sara avoided his gaze for as long as she could, finally turning to face him when she realized that fighting back her tears was going to be a losing battle.

When Nick realized she was about to cry, all of his anger completely dissipated and turned to fear and concern.  In the three years he had worked with her, he had seen her get upset more times then he could count, but he had never seen her cry before.  "Sar, what's wrong?" he sat down next to her.

She managed to compose herself enough to prevent a full-fledged bawling episode, but couldn't stop a few tears from trickling down her cheek.  "Sorry," she muttered an apology through her sniffles.

"Hey, you don't have to apologize," he comforted her as he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her toward him.  "It's okay.  You've been through a lot in the past forty-eight hours."

He left her briefly to retrieve a box of tissues for her but sat right back down and replaced his arm around her as she wiped her eyes and nose.  She leaned against him and they sat in silence as their attention drifted to the TV, which was still on.  After watching for an hour, Sara unconsciously yawned.

"Do you want me to drive you home?" Nick asked.

Sara didn't respond at first.  "Um, can I stay here?  I don't really feel like being alone right now.  I can just sleep on the couch."  Her tone was tentative.

"Yeah, of course," Nick didn't hesitate to answer.  "But I'm taking the couch.  You're sleeping in the bed."

"Nick, I'm off tonight.  You have to work, you should take the bed."

"Don't argue with me Sara, you're not sleeping on the couch," he insisted as he got up and headed for his bedroom.

Too tired to push the issue further, Sara followed him to the bedroom.

"You can change into these."  He handed her one of his t-shirts and a pair of sweat shorts.

"Thanks."

He closed the bedroom door behind him and grabbed a blanket from the hall closet before heading out to the living room couch.  He sat down and let out a heavy sigh, the worry he felt for Sara consuming him.  He'd never seen her like this before, so scared and vulnerable.  She had jumped right back into work after the explosion, and aside from the crazy notion that she thought she was Super Cop, she seemed fine.  But he should have known better than to think the explosion wouldn't have much of an affect on her.  Of course it would.  It would be impossible for someone to experience something like that and then just move on like nothing happened.

Sara changed out of her clothes and climbed into bed.  Her eyes immediately started to well up as she thought back on her life over the past few months.  Hank had used her.  Grissom had rejected her.  She doubted her shambled, pathetic love life could get any worse.  She almost laughed at Nick's assumptions as to why he thought she was upset that night.  The DNA lab exploding right in front of her eyes was the least of her problems.

Nick let out a final sigh as he lay back onto the couch and tried to get comfortable.  Before he could, however, he heard a barely audible noise coming from the direction of his bedroom.  Sara.

As he approached he could hear her quiet sobs through the closed door.  He knocked softly.  "Sara?"  He received no answer so he slowly opened the door and poked his head inside.  "Sar?  You okay?"

She sat up but continued crying.

He walked in and sat on the edge of the bed.  "Hey, it's okay.  Shhh," he tried to soothe her as he held her in his arms.  "I'm here, you're okay."

Sara wrapped her arms around him and cried on his shoulder for a good thirty minutes before her tears started to subside.  She lifted her head from his shoulder and noticed his tear-stained shirt.  "Sorry," she sniffled.

"It'll dry," he gave her a gentle smile.  His thumb wiped the tears from her cheek.  "Feeling better?"

"A little."

When it was apparent she didn't want to talk about it, Nick let her go and attempted to get up, but felt Sara's grip around his waist tighten.

"Stay?  Please?  Just until I fall asleep."  She begged with her eyes.

Without giving it a second thought, he wordlessly crawled under the blankets, despite the fact that under any other circumstances he would have found the situation extremely awkward, since he, or any other heterosexual male for that matter, would be lying if he said he wasn't the least bit attracted to Sara.

As he lay next to her, she reached for his hand to pull his arm around her, guiding him to spoon against her.  She let out a sigh as Nick could feel her tense body beginning to relax, and within a few minutes they were both fast asleep.

---------------

When Nick awoke he immediately realized he was alone.  He strained his ears to listen for any signs that she was still in his house, but was met with only silence.  He got up and found a piece of paper on the kitchen table with two words scribbled in Sara's chicken scratch.

_Thanks._

_Sara_

He managed a small smile as he realized that she was feeling better, at least a little bit.  He still wanted to make sure she was okay, so as he hurried to get ready for work, he made a mental note to swing by her apartment after shift.

---------------

Nick rushed down the hall, knowing he was late.

"You're late, man," Warrick said to Nick as he and Catherine were coming out of the break room.

"I know, I know.  What's on the menu tonight?"

"Grissom has your assignment.  He's in his office," Catherine replied.

"I thought he was off?"  Nick looked puzzled.

Catherine shrugged.  "He said he's just here for a couple hours.  Some kind of important paperwork."

"Oh."  Nick continued down the hall to Grissom's office.  He knocked on the slightly ajar door before entering.  "Sorry I'm late."

"419 down the street at the Fremont," was all Grissom said as he handed Nick the assignment slip.

"Okay."  Nick turned for the door.

"Have you seen Sara?" Grissom asked before Nick could leave.  "Since the end of last shift, I mean."  She had stormed off after he had turned down her dinner offer and was curious as to how she was doing.  He figured if anyone knew, it would be Nick.

"Uh, yeah.  Why?"

"I, uh, was just wondering how she was doing.  After the explosion and all," he lied.  He assumed that Sara wouldn't have told Nick about what had happened between them, and he certainly didn't think it was appropriate for Nick to know about it.

"Oh.  Well I think she's feeling better."  Nick was intentionally vague.  Even though he knew it probably would have been better to tell Grissom the entire truth, he knew Sara had come to him because she trusted him, and he would never break that trust.

"That's good."  Grissom returned his attention to his paperwork, signaling the end of the conversation.

Nick managed to get through shift without thinking about Sara, but as soon as it was over, she was the first thing that came to his mind.  He rushed into the locker room to store his gear and head for Sara's place.

"Hot date, Nick?" Catherine teased with a smile when she noticed he seemed to be rushing.

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.  "No."

"Have you talked to Sara since yesterday?" Catherine asked, wondering if she was doing okay.

"I'm actually going to see her right now," Nick replied.

"Oh.  Well tell her I said hi."

"Will do.  You going to see Greg?"

"Yeah.  I'm gonna go pick him up.  They're releasing him today."

"Cool.  Tell him I said hey."

---------------

When Sara looked through the peephole to see who had knocked on her door, she couldn't help but smile.

"Hi," Nick greeted with a smile when she opened the door.

"Hi," she smiled back.

Nick noticed the yellow rubber gloves on Sara's hands.  "Have you been cleaning?" Nick's tone was almost accusatory.

"Yeah, so?"

"You should be taking it easy, Sara," he scolded.

Sara rolled her eyes as she stepped aside to let Nick come in.  "I'm fine."

Nick reflexively wrinkled his nose when he walked in, the pungent odor of cleansing products filling his nostrils.  "What are you doing, disinfecting the entire apartment?"

Sara shot him a look before heading back into the kitchen.  Nick followed her and sat at the kitchen table as he watched her scrub the sink.

"Grissom asked about you."

"Asked what about me?" She continued scrubbing to mask the small flicker of panic that suddenly ran through her.  He wouldn't tell Nick about the dinner thing, would he?

"He was trying to find out how much the explosion was affecting you.  I just told him that you were fine.  He bought it."

"Oh.  Uh, thanks."  She focused her attention on the sink, but she could feel Nick looking at her.  Grissom may have bought it, but she knew Nick didn't, not after what happened the previous morning.  "I am fine, you know," she said as she finally stopped cleaning and looked at him.  She was telling the truth as far as the explosion ordeal went; aside from the fact that she was worried about Greg, she was fine. 

"Okay."  His tone implied he only half believed her; she seemed fine for the most part, but he knew it would take her awhile to completely recover.

She gave him a look, knowing he still had his doubts.

"I said okay," Nick repeated insistently, not wanting to argue.

"Okay."  She turned her attention to the kitchen counter as she covered it with cleanser.  As long as she kept him thinking it was about the explosion and not Grissom she wouldn't be lying to him, and hopefully he'd see that and leave her alone.

But she'd be lying to herself if she said Grissom's rejection wasn't bothering her, because it was.  She wasn't worried about trying to come up with a plan to win Grissom over, because she had decided the minute he said no that she was giving up.  It wasn't worth it anymore.  She realized she was more angry than anything else, angry at Grissom for making her waste her time, but mostly angry at herself for not realizing she was wasting her time.

After several more minutes of watching Sara clean, Nick got up.  "I'm gonna head home and get some sleep.  I just stopped by to see how you were doing."

"Okay.  Thanks.  For stopping by.  And for yesterday."

"No problem," he smiled.  He turned for the front door to let himself out.

"Hey, do you wanna grab something to eat, before shift?" she asked.

"Sure.  I'll call you later."

"Okay."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

------------------------------

It took several weeks, but things at the lab eventually got back to normal.  Greg was back at work in a temporary DNA lab while the old one was being cleaned up and rebuilt.  Nick was glad that Sara was back to her old self again.  They seemed to be spending a lot of time together outside of work, more than they used to, which helped Nick to keep an eye on her without looking like he was doing so.

That night, however, Sara seemed distracted; Nick figured the case they were working on with Grissom was bringing back bad memories.  The three of them were working on a house fire and they suspected a bomb or some kind of explosion was the cause.  Nick didn't understand why Grissom put Sara on the case, but it must have been because he, like Nick, figured she had moved on and it wouldn't bother her.

Sara knew it would happen eventually.  Miraculously, it had lasted almost a month; she never imagined it would be that long.  But that night her lucky streak ended.  And there she was, working a case with Grissom.  Her first since the dinner fiasco.  After he had rejected her, Grissom had managed to assign cases so the two were never working together.  Which was fine with Sara, it helped her to move on, to stop beating herself up over it, blaming herself for being so stupid.

But with her first case working with Grissom, the emotions came flooding back.  While she knew her bad mood caused her to be a little distracted from the case, her odd behavior was augmented by the fact that she also tried to limit her interactions with Grissom since her anger against him had returned.  She tried hard to let it go, but it was easier to forgive herself than to forgive him.

"Is everything okay?" Nick looked at Sara with concern as they sat and ate breakfast in a quiet corner booth.

"Yeah," she replied as she stared down at her plate and picked at her omelet, knowing Nick would see right through her.

"Sara."

"I said I'm fine," she looked up at him.

"No you're not.  The Human Vacuum would have hoovered down that omelet twenty minutes ago," Nick gently teased.  He tried to keep things light, masking his worry so she wouldn't get angry.  But she had her nickname for a reason, so he knew something was bothering her when she didn't eat.

"I'm just not very hungry."

Nick decided to let it go and try a different approach.  "You wanna come over?"

Sara raised an eyebrow at him, waiting to hear more.

"Okay, fine.  I promise no Animal Planet," he gave in.  The only reason he wanted her to come over was on the off chance that she'd eventually open up and tell him what was bothering her, so he'd concede whatever he had to in order to better his chances.

"Okay then," Sara managed a half smile.

They paid for their food and headed to Nick's house, quickly settling in front of the TV.  Nick was a man of his word, and he let Sara watch her favorite forensics shows. 

Ordinarily, Sara would have been thrilled, but that morning she was distracted, as Nick had, as usual, so astutely observed.  Of course he didn't know the real reason why, and Sara had no intention of telling him, because she feared what he would think of her if she did.

They sat and watched TV for a couple hours, but to Nick's dismay, the only thing Sara told him was that there was a 32% chance of DNA recovery from the brim of a hat, and she left his house without revealing anything else.

---------------

As they continued working on their case the next night, Nick kept an eye on Sara and noticed she still seemed slightly distracted.  She also seemed to be upset with Grissom but that wasn't too unusual, so he was still unsure of what exactly was bothering her, and to avoid getting his head bitten off, he kept his mouth shut and didn't ask her about it.

Sara pushed open the locker room door and saw Nick inside.  "Breakfast?" she asked him.

"Sorry, can't.  I have some stuff I have to do."

"Oh."  She tried to hide her disappointed expression from Nick with her open locker door but knew her tone had given her away.  Ever since "the rejection" she'd been leaning on Nick a lot, mostly to get her mind of Grissom, which, except when Nick pestered her about why she seemed upset, always did the job.  With Nick she could be herself; she didn't have to prove anything to him or go out on a limb to get him to notice her.

She'd been asking him to hang out after shift a lot, whether it was breakfast or just lounging at home in front of the TV.  It had become almost routine, and to hear him say no caught her by surprise.  But she knew it would happen eventually.  He did have a life.  And it didn't revolve around her.

Nick was a little caught off guard by her overt disappointment over such a trivial thing.  "How about dinner, before shift?" he offered.

"Okay." She managed a small smile.  She opened the locker room door to leave and found herself face to face with Warrick.

"Hi," Warrick greeted.

"Bye," she smiled.  She turned to Nick.  "Just come over whenever," she said before she walked out.

Warrick came inside and raised an eyebrow at Nick.  "Come over, huh?  Is there something going on between you two that I should know about?" he teased.

"I'm not sure," Nick replied distractedly with a furrowed brow, still wondering about Sara's strange reaction.

"Not sure?  What, you been out of the game so long you don't know how to read the signs anymore?" Warrick continued his banter.

"What?  No, it's not like that," Nick said, his expression still grim.

"Well then what is it like?" Warrick was getting curious.

"I don't know," Nick sighed.  "After the lab explosion we started hanging out a lot, and she was the one that usually suggested it.  I figured she was just trying to get her mind off it, so I just went along with it and didn't say anything.  She seemed to be getting over it, and she was doing fine until yesterday.  Ever since this case started she's been acting distracted."

"Your bomb in the basement case?"

"Yeah."

"Well the case probably just shook her up, brought back some bad memories," Warrick suggested, trying to find a reason not to get too worried.

"I guess."

---------------

"Is it okay if we just order in?  I don't really feel like going out," Sara said as she headed into the kitchen to grab the takeout menus.

"Uh, sure," Nick eyed her as he closed the front door behind him and walked into Sara's living room.

"What do you want?" Sara called out from the kitchen.

"Whatever," he called back as he sat down in front of the TV.

"Thai okay?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want the usual?"

"Yeah."

Sara phoned in their order and came back into the living room to join Nick on the couch.  They watched TV in silence until their food arrived, and they then proceeded to eat in silence as well.  Once they were finished and Nick decided that Sara might be more amenable to a discussion since her stomach was now full, he found his courage and spoke.

"Listen, Sara, I know I've asked you a million times if you're okay, and I know you've told me a million times that you are, but-"

"Nick."

"Just hear me out.  Please," he begged.  "Just this once."

Sara sighed, but didn't object.

Nick continued.  "You're a damn good CSI.  The best I've ever known.  And I'm not just saying that," he looked at her.  "But even the best aren't super human.  Things still get to them, no matter how hard they try to push everything away.  They have to find ways to deal, just like everybody else."

Sara stared down at her hands, taking in everything Nick was saying.

His gaze remained fixed on her as he went on.  "Now I can't know how you must feel after going through the lab explosion, and you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to.  But all I ask is that you talk to someone about it.  Anyone.  Not just for me, but for you.  You can't keep working like this."

Sara finally looked at him.  It touched her that Nick's words were filled with so much concern for her.  She never realized someone she'd only known for a few years would care so much about her.  But of course Nick would.  That's the kind of person he was, always concerned with the well being of those around him.

She felt guilty that she was making Nick worry, especially since he was worrying over the wrong thing.  She realized she had no choice but to tell him the truth.  She took a deep breath.  "Grissom rejected me."  She turned away, unable to look him in the eye.

Nick didn't know how to respond.

"I asked him to dinner and he flat out rejected me."

"I'm sorry," was all Nick could think to say.  He knew Sara had some kind of thing for Grissom, but he thought it was more of a teacher's pet kind of crush.  Apparently he was wrong, and he had to admit he was a little shocked to hear what Sara had done.

"It's all my fault.  I was such an idiot!  Why did I even think I had a chance?"

"Hey, it's not your fault," he comforted.  "Grissom's the idiot.  Anyone who would turn you down is an idiot."

"What about guys who use me to cheat on their girlfriends?" Sara scoffed at the thought of her shambled love life.

"They're the biggest idiots," Nick replied with a tinge of anger.  That bastard Hank.

They sat for a few minutes before Nick spoke.  "So is that why you've been acting strange these past few weeks?  Because he turned you down?"

"Yeah."

"All this had nothing to do with the lab explosion?"

"Not really."

"Well why didn't you tell me that in the first place?"

Sara gave him a look, as if he didn't realize what a stupid question that was.  Despite Nick's willingness to listen to just about anything she had to say, the story of her pathetic attempt to ask Grissom out was not something she'd be so enthusiastic to share.

"Well it would have saved me all this worrying," he teased with a light smile.

"Sorry," she smiled.

"I'll live," he grinned.  He looked at her and his expression turned serious.  "No matter what's bothering you, I still think you should talk to somebody," he said.

"It's not bothering me anymore," she insisted.

Nick rolled his eyes.  "Did you not hear a word I just said?  I had that whole speech planned out perfectly," he said, only half teasing.

"Well it's not.  At least not how you think it is."

"Okay…" Nick wasn't sure where Sara was going.

"I'm giving up.  Moving on.  He's not worth it anymore."

Nick furrowed his brow.  "Well then why-"

"Will you let me finish?" she shot him a glare.

"Sorry."

"I'm just angry is all.  Well I was starting to get over it.  But this case was the first I've worked with him since he rejected me.  So I got angry all over again."

Nick didn't say anything at first, to make sure she was done talking.  "Why are you angry?" he asked when she didn't go on.

"At myself?  For being so stupid and not seeing that I was wasting my time.  At him?  For not saying anything and making me waste my time."

Nick thought for a second.  "Well do you think he even knew?  I mean, does he ever know what's going on if it doesn't have to do with a case?"

Sara played back the conversation in her head.

_"Sara...I don't know what to do about this."_

Of course he knew.  But he "didn't know what to do" so he just left her hanging for three years.  And when he finally did say no, it wasn't even a "no thank you," it was just "no."   And the way he said it, the tone he used, he was practically laughing at her, like the idea was so preposterous.  As if the rejection itself wasn't bad enough, he had to give her this look like she was crazy.

"Sara."

Nick's voice interrupted the angry ramblings in Sara's head.  She sighed.  She decided right then and there that she didn't want to deal with any of it anymore.  "Just forget it."

Nick tried not to raise his voice.  "How am I gonna get it through that thick skull of yours that-"

"Seriously, Nick," she interrupted.  "I don't wanna think about this thing anymore.  It's not even worth it to be angry.  As of right now, I'm putting it all behind me."

Nick raised an eyebrow.

"I promise."  She looked into his eyes, hoping he'd believe her.  Because she was telling the truth.  She didn't want to waste any more time or energy thinking about Grissom.

"You promise."

"Yes, I promise," she repeated.  "I don't want you to have to worry about me all the time."

"So are you doing this for me or for you?" he looked at her.

"Someone's a little self-centered aren't they?" she teased with a small smile.  "For me," she answered his question.

"Okay.  Good," he smiled.

Sara glanced down at her watch.  "We should get going."

Nick looked at his own watch.  "Yeah."

They cleaned up and put the leftover food in the fridge before leaving the apartment.

"Hey," Sara called out as Nick was walking toward his truck parked at the curb.

Nick turned around.

"Thanks.  Again."

Nick smiled.  "See you in a few," he said as he unlocked the door and climbed in.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

------------------------------

Nick opened his front door and looked down at his watch.  "You're three minutes late," he chided with a playful smile.

"Traffic," Sara smirked as she stepped inside.

"It's okay, I'll forgive you, since the food's not ready yet."  He walked back to the kitchen and Sara followed, taking a seat at the partially set dining table.

Finally, things had really gotten back to normal.  True to her word, Sara put her anger and frustration behind her, knowing she couldn't feel sorry for herself forever.  It had been over a month since she even thought about "the rejection" and that night she spent at Nick's.

She wasn't sure if she was ready to "get out more," as Nick had once put it, so for the time being she kept busy with work.  But it wasn't in a bad way; she worked hard and enjoyed it, not letting cases get to her.  To blow off steam she'd hang out with Nick and Warrick, or usually just Nick.  That was enough for her, to just hang out with friends, people she knew cared about her.

"Nick, you didn't have to do this," Sara said as she watched him stirring something on the stove.

"I know, but we had to have some kind of celebration," he replied, his back turned to her as he continued stirring.

Sara had been the one to crack the case the entire team had been working on for the past two weeks, a twisted murder/kidnapping scandal involving one of Vegas's top defense attorneys.  As a congratulation, Nick offered to cook dinner for her.  But what he didn't tell her, in order to not defeat the purpose of the celebration, was that it was also a kind of celebration of Sara moving past the Grissom ordeal.  He noticed she seemed happier and more relaxed lately, and he was proud of her for it.  He knew it must have been difficult to get to where she was, considering how hard she'd taken it.

"No we didn't." Sara was insistent but her tone conveyed her gratitude.  She was so thankful that Nick had been such a great friend over the past two months, helping her through her problems.  She had never asked anything from him, but he always seemed to be there.  "Do you need any help?" she asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Uh, sure.  You can finish setting the table."

Sara placed the plates and glasses on the table and sat back down.  "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot," Nick replied, his head buried in the fridge and blocked from Sara's view by the open door.

She thought for second.  "Uh, never mind," she changed her mind.

Nick stood up and closed the refrigerator.  His expression made Sara quickly regret she'd even asked if she could ask him a question in the first place.

"Forget it.  It's nothing."

Nick wasn't buying it.

Sara's mind raced as she tried to think of something to bail herself out, knowing Nick wouldn't let it go.  "I, uh, was just wondering why you're wearing that dorky apron."  She smiled at Nick, trying to sell her lie.

Nick's eyes narrowed.  "What's wrong with my apron?" his tone was defensive.  "I didn't feel like decorating my shirt with marinara splatter tonight."

"Well why didn't you just wear an old t-shirt?"

"Because I wanted to look nice for you."  He paired his sarcastic quip with a wry smile.  "Besides, it makes me look like I know what I'm doing.  I thought girls liked it when guys know their way around the kitchen."

"While wearing an apron?" she gave him a look.  "Not this girl."  She smiled, remembering she had given him that same line several years ago during her first months in Vegas.

"Fine.  I'll take it off."  He untied the apron behind his back and pulled it over his head.

"I didn't say you had to take it off," Sara replied, amused that Nick was getting flustered.

"Well you said you didn't like it.  So it's gone."  He tossed the apron on the empty chair across from Sara and walked back to the stove.

Sara couldn't help but smile at the fact that Nick got rid of the apron just to try and please her.  "You know, I don't really like that shirt either," she teased.

"Don't push your luck Sidle," he replied, not even turning around.

They ate their meal in companionable silence, broken only by Sara's occasional comments on how good the food was.  They spent so much time together, in and out of work, that there really wasn't much to say.  That was one of the things she liked so much about Nick, he wasn't afraid of silence.  Most guys would get bored or nervous and make a lousy attempt at trying to break it by talking your ear off.  But not Nick.  Even when he wanted to say something, to try and get something out of her, he kept quiet, knowing that silence could be just as powerful as words.

"Had enough?"  Nick eyed her.

"More than enough.  I don't think I need to eat for the next three days," Sara replied.  "Thanks.  Everything was great," she smiled.

"You're welcome," he smiled back.  He got up to take his dirty dishes to the sink.

"Nick, I can clean up.  It's the least I can do," Sara offered.

"No, the least you could do is go into the living room and relax," he said as he took her empty plate.

She stood up.  "Nick."

"Go," he pointed out to the living.  When she didn't budge he grabbed her by the shoulders and walked her out, pushing her down onto the couch.  He handed her the TV remote.  "Stay."

She glared up at him.  "I'm not a dog."

"Good girl," Nick teased with a smile as he patted her head.

Sara swiped at his leg but missed as he headed back to the kitchen.  He quickly cleaned up and returned to the living room, handing Sara one of the two cups of coffee he was holding before sitting down next to her.  They watched an entire episode of Sara's favorite forensics show before Nick finally spoke.

"You can leave.  I mean, if you want to.  I don't want to hold you captive or anything."  For some reason he felt uncharacteristically awkward.

"If you want to kick me out just say so," she gave him a playful smirk as she stood up.  "But I should go.  It's getting late."

"Okay."  He followed her to the door to see her out.

As Sara reached for the doorknob she turned around.  "Thanks again for dinner."

"You're welcome," Nick smiled.

Their eyes met for a split second, and without thinking, Sara closed what little space there was between them as her lips met Nick's in a gentle kiss.  She pulled away after a brief moment before Nick had a chance to react.  She looked into his eyes, trying to read them.  She saw nothing that indicated he was opposed to the idea, so she leaned in to kiss him again.  This time, Nick responded fully, his hands finding her hips as he pulled her towards him.

But before Sara could get too wrapped up in the kiss, Nick abruptly pulled away.  "Sara, wait." His voice was barely above a whisper.

"What?" She looked at him, confused.  She thought the kiss was going well.  More then well, actually.

"What is this about?" He let go of her hips.

"What do you mean, 'what is this about'?" She was slightly annoyed.  She thought it was obvious.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm against this - believe me, I'm definitely not - but I just want to make sure we're doing this for the right reason," he continued, keeping his cool.

Sara took a step back.  "There's a wrong reason?" she challenged with a glare.

Nick knit his brow, trying to think of a way to express his concern in the least offensive way as possible.  He took a deep breath.  "Look, I know you've been through a lot these past several months, first with Hank and then with Gris-"

"You cannot be serious!" Sara scoffed when she realized what he was implying.

"All I'm saying is-"

"Forget it.  You don't have to say anything."  She angrily flung open the front door and stormed out.

"Sara!" Nick called out, but she kept walking.  He stood in the open doorway and watched her drive off.

Sara sped away, blinking back her angry tears.  She couldn't believe him.  Had he seriously thought she was that desperate?  Did he honestly think she was "settling" for Nick, using him like that, just because he was there for the taking?

Nick closed the door and went back to the living room, letting out a heavy sigh as he sat down.  Maybe he had jumped to conclusions too quickly.  Sara did say she was over the whole Grissom thing, and it certainly appeared as though she was.  So maybe she wasn't looking for "the next best thing," someone to take her mind off him.  Maybe she was just lonely.  They still seemed to be hanging out together a lot, even though Sara didn't really need Nick's company the way she did before.

Or, there was the possibility that Sara wanted to be with him just for the sake of being with him.  He couldn't complain about that; while they were already friends, he couldn't say he'd never entertained the idea of what it would be like to be more.  It was so hard for him to pull away from her when she kissed him, but he had to be sure of what they were getting into and why.  He didn't want to take advantage of her vulnerability, if that's what this whole thing was about.

---------------

"Is our BMW here yet?" Warrick asked Sara as she walked into the break room.

"No," she replied as she headed straight for the coffee machine.

Warrick sighed.  "I'd like to get started processing some time this year," he quipped.  He watched with a curious eye as Sara poured her coffee without so much as a glance at Nick, who was leaning against the counter not two feet from her.

She filled her cup and walked out as quickly as she had come.

Warrick looked at Nick.  "What was that about?"

"Nothing."  Nick sipped his coffee.

Warrick challenged him with a raised eyebrow.  "Lately you guys have been joined at the hip, and now all of a sudden she won't even look at you."

"It's just Sara being Sara."  Nick threw his empty cup in the trash and headed for the A/V lab, trying to keep his frustration in check.  He knew things between him and Sara would be tense, considering what happened the previous night.  And he definitely wanted to talk to her about it, but the lab certainly wasn't the place to do that, especially since they had work to do.  So the only thing to do was to get through shift without any altercations.  Luckily they were working separate cases, so they didn't see too much of each other.

Sara sat in an empty conference room, getting dizzy scanning pages and pages of phone records but pressing on in order to try and stop her mind from wandering to Nick.  She dreaded coming in to work that night, and was thankful that she wasn't working with him.  She knew there were things that had to be said, but she'd have to make it through the night first.

After she'd left his house, she stayed up for several hours thinking about what she'd done and what she'd said, and she came to two conclusions.  One, she knew she wasn't angry with Nick.  While she did storm out of his house plenty mad, she eventually realized that what she really felt was disappointment.  She thought he valued their friendship more than to even consider the idea that she would ever use him like that.  Two, she knew she really did have feelings for Nick.  Part of the reason she'd left so abruptly was that she feared Nick might have been right, that she really was looking for someone to replace Grissom.  But once she calmed down she knew that was definitely not the case.  Over the years she and Nick had become good friends, best friends.  They'd worked the tough cases, pulled the doubles and even some triples, and Nick had always been there, levelheaded, relentlessly optimistic, unfailingly supportive Nick.  He was the only constant in her life, and she'd grown so accustomed to it that she'd almost taken it for granted.  And the fact that she was so hung up on Grissom didn't help any.  But over the past several weeks, spending so much time with him, she finally saw what a great guy he really was.

A voice broke Sara's thoughts.  "Earth to Sara."

"Huh?"

Warrick furrowed his brow.  "You okay?"

"Yeah."  She straightened up in her chair.

"You getting anything from those phone records?"

"Only a headache," she quipped, flipping through the pages.

Warrick studied Sara and still thought something wasn't quite right.  "You sure you're okay?"

Sara only looked up and glared at him.

Warrick quickly got the message.  "Okay.  Well our BMW's in the garage, if you wanna take a break from this."

"Good.  It's about time."  Sara got up and hastily headed for the garage, leaving Warrick with a puzzled expression on his face, wondering what could have been bothering her.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Well this is the last chapter. Thank you very much to all of you who took the time to review. I really, really appreciate your comments and I'm glad you liked the fic.

* * *

Chapter 8

------------------------------

Nick walked into the locker room and found Warrick and Sara storing their gear, getting ready to head home. Nobody said anything as Nick walked past the two to reach his own locker. Warrick shut his locker just forcefully enough for Nick to look up at him; they exchanged a look before Warrick quickly glanced at Sara and headed out.

Sara didn't acknowledge Nick's presence, and he didn't say anything as he stood next to her and opened his locker. She closed hers and sat down on the bench, watching Nick, waiting. Once he closed his he turned to her.

"Sara-"

"I know," she interrupted.

Nick was relieved to hear her tone was not one of biting anger but rather solemn understanding. "My place?"

"Okay."

They silently walked out and made their way to Nick's house.

"Can I go first?" Sara asked as she sat with Nick on his black leather couch.

Nick gestured for her to go ahead as he leaned back onto the cushions.

Sara took a deep breath, staring down at her hands in her lap to avoid his eyes, at least for the moment. "Well first I wanted to apologize. For yelling at you and storming off."

"Apology accepted." Nick noticed she didn't say anything about the kiss.

"And I'm not angry with you," she continued.

Nick raised an eyebrow. If yelling and storming off wasn't her definition of angry, he'd hate to see Sara actually get upset.

"Well maybe I was at first, but when I got home I realized I wasn't. I realized I was just disappointed." She looked at him. "In you."

Nick looked at her curiously, not understanding where she was coming from.

"How could you think that I would do something like that to you?" Sara continued.

"Think that you would do what?" Nick was still clueless.

"That I would use you like that."

Nick didn't know what to say. He'd never thought about it that way. "Sorry, I just..."

"What?"

Nick sighed. "I just wasn't sure."

"So you do think that I would use you like that?" Sara challenged, the sense of calm she had been so carefully clinging to beginning to slip away.

"No, of course not. But..."

"But what?" She glared.

"Sara, sometimes people do things they don't mean. When you have all these emotions running through your head, you're confused, you're not thinking clearly, so you do impulsive and desperate things-"

Sara scoffed. "So now I'm desperate?"

"No, I didn't mean it like that-"

"Well I don't see any other way you could mean it," Sara retorted as she shot up from the couch and started to head for the front door.

"Sara, will you let me explain?" Nick followed her to the door. "I just didn't want to take advantage of you, that's all. I didn't want to hurt you."

Sara whipped around. "_You_ didn't want to hurt _me_? So what, you were doing me a favor?" she looked at him in disbelief.

"Yeah." Somehow, the way she had put it, his reasoning didn't seem as logical as he thought it was.

"Well thanks a lot then," she snapped, her caustic tone laced heavily with sarcasm. She was about to open the door, but she instead turned to him and attempted to gain her composure somewhat before saying one last thing. "You know, I was planning on telling you that I really do have feelings for you and that I thought there could be something between us, but since you don't trust me and just think I'm lonely or desperate or whatever, I guess it doesn't really matter."

Sara opened the door and walked out, and again Nick watched as Sara drove away. However, while the last time he felt he was partly to blame for her dramatic exit, this time he didn't feel like he did anything wrong. Sure, he'd used the word "desperate," but he regretted it as soon as the word escaped his lips and he didn't mean it like Sara thought he did. But she didn't let him explain. This time it was Sara who had jumped to conclusions.

More unsettling than the argument itself was the fact that he was starting to realize now that maybe Sara wasn't confused or lonely and wasn't acting on an impulse when she had kissed him the other night. Despite his theory, he could tell by her tone and the look in her eyes not five minutes ago during their civilized conversation on the couch that maybe she was telling the truth. And of course he would never think Sara would use him or hurt him, just as he hoped she knew he would never do such a thing to her.

The worst part of it all was that he realized he actually had feelings for her, more than just friendly feelings. In all honesty, he knew he always had them, but hearing Sara say she felt the same way made him realize his feelings weren't in vain. He was actually a little shocked to hear her say that; he'd never imagined that Sara would reciprocate his feelings.

But for the moment, he didn't know what to do. Although unsure if it was justified, Sara probably wouldn't believe anything he'd say, or else she'd probably find some way to start an argument and storm off yet again. All he could think to do now was just wait it out. He inwardly groaned as he thought of going into work that night, having to see her, or worse, having to work with her. It would be a long and tortuous shift, or maybe even a long and tortuous week, or month, or heaven forbid, career.

As Sara drove off, angry tears threatening to spill, she had a feeling of déjà vu. Only this time, she wasn't sure if she had the right to be angry. Maybe she should have let Nick explain. Maybe she'd been wrong all along. Deep down she knew Nick knew that she would never intentionally hurt him.

Still, she couldn't completely get past the fact that Nick had pulled away that night at his front door. Did he say that he actually wanted something to happen between them? Sara couldn't really remember. That only complicated matters, to know that he felt that way.

So now what? She was upset, and she didn't really know why. Maybe it was because she didn't want to admit that it was possible that she was wrong about Nick and she'd blown the whole thing way out of proportion. Whatever the reason, she was pretty sure that she didn't even want to be upset. Nick was her friend, no matter what. At least she hoped they still would be, after all this. She wasn't sure if she could face him at work that night, and she prayed she wouldn't have to work a case with him.

---------------

When Nick walked into the break room, he saw Sara, her back to him, sitting at the table with Catherine. He deliberately focused his attention on the coffee machine as he headed straight toward it.

Nick's odd behavior didn't go unnoticed by Catherine. "Hi Nick," she greeted, her tone indicating she was a bit surprised at Nick's unusually quiet entrance; he usually never failed to come into work with a friendly smile and a cheerful greeting.

"Hey," Nick replied, his voice registering no emotion as he poured his coffee, not even glancing up. He went to sit on the couch without another word.

Catherine glanced at Sara, who acted like Nick wasn't even there as she read, or rather probably pretended to read, the newspaper in front of her.

Warrick and Grissom arrived shortly and assignments were handed out, and to both Nick and Sara's dismay, they did end up working together, on a suspected homicide in a residential neighborhood. The only saving grace was that they were working with Catherine, so they didn't have to be alone.

"Hey Catherine, take a look at this."

Catherine approached Nick, finding it odd that he had called her over when Sara was only a few feet behind him.

Nick pulled back the curtains to reveal a through and through bullet hole in the window frame. "Nine millimeter?"

"Probably," Catherine replied.

"I got a gun," Sara announced as she pulled the weapon out from a laundry hamper full of dirty clothes. "Not a nine millimeter though."

"So maybe we're looking for two shooters," Catherine reasoned. "I'll go check the perimeter outside, maybe our second weapon was dumped there. You two can finish up in here."

"I'll go," Sara volunteered, a little too quickly. She wasn't sure she could deal with being alone with Nick just yet. "I'm pretty much done over here anyway," she stepped out of the walk-in closet and headed out of the bedroom before Catherine could protest.

Catherine looked at Nick, whose expression indicated that this was not the time to talk about it. "I'm gonna go downstairs and talk to O'Riley," was all she said.

"Yeah." Nick turned and went back to work.

The three finished up and headed back to the lab, and Catherine's suspicions grew as she watched the strange behavior of Nick and Sara. They weren't angry and they were working fine together, but something was different about them. Their interactions seemed distant, a little too professional considering how friendly and flirty they always were with each other even while they were working. They didn't seem distracted from the case so Catherine didn't see any immediate cause for concern, but they seemed uncomfortable, which made her a little uncomfortable as she worked with them.

Nick walked into the break room, a troubled expression on his face. "Hey Cath, you got a second?"

Catherine looked up at him, indicating he had her attention.

"It's about me and Sara."

"I figured as much."

Nick looked around to make sure nobody was heading toward the break room. "We kind of kissed."

"I didn't figure that much." Her surprised expression quickly dissolved into a frown. "What do you mean, 'kind of'?"

"I mean, we did. But then I jumped to conclusions, and said some stuff, and now Sara's pissed off. And I know she won't listen to anything I have to say, much less believe me."

"Well have you even tried talking to her yet?" Catherine gave him a look.

"No. C'mon, you saw her."

Catherine sighed. "Nick, despite how you two freakishly complete each other's sentences half the time, she's not that good of a mind reader. Just talk to her. We all know you two are gonna get together eventually. Better now than later." She stood up. "I'm gonna go see how Bobby is doing on our shell casings." And with that she left, leaving Nick more confused than he was before their conversation.

What did she mean, "we all know"?

----------------

Nick wasn't ready to take Catherine's advice, so the next night was just as painfully awkward as the previous one. Given her stubbornness, he figured Sara wouldn't initiate any kind of discussion, so he knew he'd probably have to be the one to say something. He just wasn't sure how to go about it. Despite how well he used to be able to read Sara, things had changed between them and now he was having more than a little trouble.

Sara had made it through shift without much difficulty; while she did somewhat miss the ease with which she used to be able to talk to Nick while they worked together, the tension between them didn't really interfere with her ability to do her job. She still talked to him and they worked fine together, it just wasn't as comfortable and friendly as it had been.

Nevertheless, it was still uncomfortable, and she knew that in her line of work, she needed to reduce any kind of non-work-related stress and tension whenever possible. She walked into the locker room and was relieved to see the person she was looking for. "Do you have plans this morning?"

"Uh, no, not really." Catherine gave her a quizzical look.

"Uh, I was wondering if you wanted to grab some breakfast. I kind of need someone to talk to. And some advice."

Catherine sighed, knowing exactly what this was about. "Wait here." She stepped out of the locker room and saw Warrick approaching. "Go get Nick."

"Huh?"

"Go get Nick." She grabbed his shoulders and turned him around. "Hurry up."

"Alright, alright. No need to get pushy."

A minute later Warrick returned with a protesting Nick.

"What is the damn hurry?" Nick's tone was testy as Warrick practically pushed him down the hall.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger," Warrick replied as they walked up to Catherine.

"Stay here," Catherine ordered Warrick as she grabbed Nick by the arm and pulled him into the locker room. She sat him down on the bench next to Sara. "Look, you both made mistakes, you both have feelings for each other, and you're both either too stubborn or too stupid to do anything about it. So apologize and kiss and make up and get on with it. I'm not getting in the middle of this. God, it feels like I'm in high school again," she rolled her eyes as she left the two alone.

Nick was the first to speak. "I guess Catherine's right."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry," Nick apologized.

"No, I'm sorry. I did all of the yelling and storming off. Most of this was all my fault anyway."

"Yeah, you're right. It was your fault. I take my apology back," he teased.

Sara shot him a glare, feigning anger.

His only response was a toothy grin. "So do you wanna grab some breakfast?"

Sara smiled. "Sure." She got up and started for the door.

"Wait." Nick stood up and gave her a kiss, short but perfectly sweet.

She looked at him, wondering where that came from.

"Catherine said we should kiss and make up," he smiled.

"So that was just for Catherine?" Sara teased.

"Yeah." He kissed her again. "But that one's for me."

The End


End file.
